The two enantiomers of trifluoromethyl-benzo[c][1,5]oxazonines, (R)-4 and (S)-4, can be selectively accessed with high enantiopurity by the Pd-catalyzed ring-expansion reaction of trifluoromethyl-benzo[d][1,3]oxazinones (1) with vinyl ethylene carbonates (3) using one antipode of a chiral ligand. Initially, the reaction proceeds by a double decarboxylative ring-expansion with kinetic resolution of 1 in the presence of a Pd-catalyst/chiral ligand to provide (R)-4 with high enantiopurity. At the same time, the nonreactive antipode of 1, (S)-1, which was recovered with an impeccable s factor of up to 713 and an ideal chemical yield, was transferred into the antipode of the products, (S)-4, with high enantiopurity by a second run of the Pd-catalyzed double decarboxylation reaction, but this time without any chiral auxiliary. Thus, both antipodes of the chiral trifluoromethyl heterocycles 4 can be obtained in excellent enantiopurity using only a single antipode of the chiral catalyst. © 2020 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH &amp; Co. KGaA, Weinheim.OBJECTIVES Our aim was to clarify previously reported associations and to explore new ones between various maternal background and perinatal factors and the risk of type 1 diabetes in childhood. METHODS We identified all children born 1 January 1987 to 31 December 2008 in Finland and diagnosed with type 1 diabetes by age 16?years or end of 2009 from the Special Reimbursement Register (n = 6862). A 10% random sample from each birth year cohort was selected as a reference cohort (n = 127?216). Information on perinatal factors was obtained from the Finnish Medical Birth Register. RESULTS Maternal diabetes (hazard ratios [HR] = 6.43; 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.35, 7.73), maternal asthma (HR = 1.23; 95% CI 1.06, 1.43), child's high birth length for gestational age (HR = 1.35; 95% CI 1.22, 1.51 highest vs lowest quintile) and premature or early term birth (HR = 1.21; 95% CI 1.05, 1.39 gestational weeks 33-36 and HR = 1.17; 95% CI 1.09, 1.26 gestational weeks 37-38 vs gestational weeks 39-40) was associated with an increased risk of type 1 diabetes when adjusted for several potential confounders. Maternal smoking during pregnancy (HR = 0.72; 95% CI 0.66, 0.77), high number of previous live births (HR = 0.65; 95% CI 0.55, 0.76???4 vs 0 live births), and the child being born small for gestational age (HR = 0.80; 95% CI 0.67, 0.96) was associated with a decreased risk of type 1 diabetes. CONCLUSIONS Findings on maternal asthma and high birth length for gestational age increasing the risk of type 1 diabetes are novel and need to be confirmed. Our findings indicate that perinatal factors may play a role in the development of type 1 diabetes. © 2020 John Wiley &amp; Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley &amp; Sons Ltd.This article presents the results of analyses carried out on a lot of 11 fragments of Bronze Age ceramics discovered in the site from Băile Figa (Beclean town, Transylvania, Romania), where salt exploitation occurred. The samples were analyzed by means of optical microscopy, on the basis of which the morphology and distribution of the inclusions in the ceramic paste was established. Likewise, the samples were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry, producing microphotographs for each sample, and on the basis of the X-ray spectra, the elemental composition in gravimetric percentages was established. Through the micro-Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy analysis, on the basis of characteristic group vibrations, it was possible to ascertain the nature of the compounds from the ceramic samples. These analyses will contribute to the reconstruction of the prehistoric technologies for salt exploitation. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Astrogliosis comprises a variety of changes in astrocytes that occur in a context-specific manner, triggered by temporally diverse signaling events that vary with the nature and severity of brain insults. However, most mechanisms underlying astrogliosis were described using animals, which fail to reproduce some aspects of human astroglial signaling. Here, we report an in vitro model to study astrogliosis using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC)-derived astrocytes which replicate temporally intertwined aspects of reactive astrocytes in vivo. We analyzed the time course of astrogliosis by measuring nuclear translocation of NF-kB, production of cytokines, changes in morphology and function of iPSC-derived astrocytes exposed to TNF-α. We observed NF-kB p65 subunit nuclear translocation and increased gene expression of IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α in the first hours following TNF-α stimulation. After 24?hr, conditioned media from iPSC-derived astrocytes exposed to TNF-α exhibited increased secretion of inflammation-related cytokines. After 5?days, TNF-α-stimulated cells presented a typical phenotype of astrogliosis such as increased immunolabeling of Vimentin and GFAP and nuclei with elongated shape and shrinkage. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/ku-0060648.html Moreover, ~50% decrease in aspartate uptake was observed during the time course of astrogliosis with no evident cell damage, suggesting astroglial dysfunction. Together, our results indicate that human iPSC-derived astrocytes reproduce canonical events associated with astrogliosis in a time dependent fashion. The approach described here may contribute to a better understanding of mechanisms governing human astrogliosis with potential applicability as a platform to uncover novel biomarkers and drug targets to prevent or mitigate astrogliosis associated with human brain disorders. © 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.Reported here is the first highly selective conversion of various waste plastics into C2 fuels under simulated natural environment conditions by a sequential photoinduced C-C cleavage and coupling pathway, where single-use bags, disposable food containers, food wrap films, and their main components of polyethylene, polypropylene, and polyvinyl chloride can be photocatalytically transformed into CH3 COOH without using sacrificial agents. As an example, polyethylene is photodegraded 100?% into CO2 within 40?h by single-unit-cell thick Nb2 O5 layers, while the produced CO2 is further photoreduced to CH3 COOH. Various methods and experiments disclose that O2 and .OH radicals trigger the oxidative C-C cleavage of polyethylene to form CO2 , while other investigations show that the yielded CH3 COOH stems from CO2 photoreduction by C-C coupling of .COOH intermediates. This two-step plastic-to-fuel conversion may help to simultaneously address the white pollution crisis and harvest highly valuable multicarbon fuels in natural environments.